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The Occult Is Rising In The Art World

Surrealism is back, amid "a new generation has been inspired by witchcraft, mysticism and spiritualism." - The Observer (UK)

That Freshman Year Class Where You Learn To Make A ‘Selfie’ Quilt

"At the end of the first week, I hand out needles and thread." - Inside Higher Ed

Can Creativity Inspire And Transform Medicine?

"Medicine has a 'creativity problem,' ... and too many people working in health care are resigned to the status quo, the dehumanizing bureaucracy." Call in the artists! - NPR

The Frick Pittsburgh Apologizes For Postponing Islamic Art Show

The museum's executive director also apologized for the way she discussed the postponement: "There are no excuses for what I said, regardless of my intentions." - The New York Times

Museum Sells Three Cezannes To Fund Operations

Markus Stegmann, the director of the Museum Langmatt in Baden, said that after subtracting buyer’s fees, its parent foundation will reap 42.3 million Swiss francs from the sale of the three paintings, enough to keep the museum operating. - The New York Times

Brilliant Ancient Codex Detailing Aztec Culture Goes Online

After centuries of remaining largely inaccessible to the public, a rare manuscript featuring 2,500 pages of detailed illustrations and text documenting the history and culture of 16th-century Mexico is now available online. - Hyperallergic

Swathed In 10,000 White Marble Sculptures, An Enormous New Hindu Temple Rises Deep In The New Jersey Burbs

"The path to God runs down the New Jersey Turnpike. About an hour from the Holland Tunnel, … a mirage appears: swirls of stone fluffed up into meringue peaks." Architecture critic Justin Davidson visits the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville, just a few miles from Exit 8. - MSN (Curbed)

Jackson Pollock Didn’t Invent Drip Painting. A Ukrainian Immigrant Grandma Did.

"Janet Sobel experimented. She would squirt paint directly out of a tube, drip it with an eyedropper, even pull wet paint across the canvas using suction from a vacuum cleaner. … Sobel's first drip painting was called Milky Way and finished in 1945 — two years before Pollock 'invented' drip painting." - Literary Hub

Brooklyn Museum Workers Okay First Contract

The agreement guarantees a 23 percent wage boost over the life of the contract, raising the minimum wage and promising annual raises. The cost of health care benefits will also drop, while expanding its coverage to part-time staff averaging 20 hours per week. - ARTnews

The Prado Is Showing Viewers The Back Side Of Some Of Its Greatest Paintings

"The idea of the new show, called 'Reversos' (On the Reverse), is to take the viewer beyond the surface of an artistic image and to encourage them to see the physical painting, its back and its frame as objects that conceal – but can also reveal – secrets, stories and meanings." - The Guardian

The Most Astonishing Piece Of Conceptual Art In London’s Marina Abramović Retrospective Is In The Gift Shop

Columnist Adrian Chiles suggests a title: "Empty Glass Half Full." - The Guardian

The Illustrators Being Replaced By AI

“The funny thing is, in so much science fiction it was theorized that robots, A.I., all this stuff was going to take over the drudgery, the hard labor, and free up humans to do creative work. Instead the A.I. is taking over the creative work, and we’re all stuck doing the hard labor.” - The New York Times

See The First Photos From The Euclid Telescope, Orbiting One Million Miles From Earth

"These new, full-color space photos reveal spectacular snapshots of the vast structure of the cosmos, including a massive galaxy cluster in the Perseus constellation, an object nicknamed the 'Hidden Galaxy,' an irregularly structured galaxy, a globular cluster packed with myriad stars, and the gorgeous Horsehead Nebula." - Wired

Remember The Medieval Painting That Was Hanging Over An Old French Lady’s Stove? It’s Going To The Louvre

The Mocking of Christ, by the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue, was sold at auction, reportedly to collectors in Delaware, for €24.2 million. The French government promptly declared the painting a "national treasure," barring export for 30 months, giving the Louvre time to raise funds to match the bid. - Artnet

We Have To Either Sell Our Cézannes Or Close Our Doors, Says Museum

The director of the Museum Langmatt in Switzerland described the upcoming auction at Christie's of three Cézanne paintings as an "emergency measure," saying that the sales will finance an endowment and compensate the heirs of a Jewish dealer forced to sell the artworks during the Nazi era. - The New York Times

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